This impressive system, officially called an aerial tramway, but usually referred to in the English speaking world as a gondola or aerial cableway, was opened in 1963 after nearly 3 decades of planning. The pic shows a cabin reaching the Mountain Station at 8,516 ft (2,596 metres) elevation.

Horse trams started running on 3'6" gauge in Utrecht on 29 April 1879 . On 27 October 1904 the Gemeentetram (community tram) Utrecht (GTU) was established which bought out the horse tram, converted the track to standard gauge and electrified it with 600 Volts DC. The last regular trams in Utrecht ran on 2 May 1949 . But, after an absence of 34 years, on 17 December 1983 the Utrecht Light Rail system began operation.

One last photo from the Great British Car Rally in Wellington last week. This tiny model only lasted two years and this was one of only 475 produced. Given its minuscule carrying capacity this is hardly surprising.

This standard gauge mining railway, now known as Pilbara Rail, transports all iron ore mined in the Hamersley Ranges of northern Western Australia to the ports at either Dampier or Cape Lambert near Wickham. The trains are operated on an American scale. In this pic a pair of ALCo Century 628 diesel-electric locos are seen on a train to Dampier in the early 1970s. This model was one of the last built by ALCo, a Co-Co type with 2,750 hp (2,051 kW) output of which 186 were built between December 1963 and December 1968. One is preserved at Seven Mile Yard in Dampier

Available info on this train is scant but it would have traveled between Jakarta and Surabaya on the 3'6" gauge track. Before 1949 Indonesia was a Dutch colony, usually referred to as the Dutch East Indies. Prints of this poster are available commercially.

After having collected over 80 car models in 1:18 scale over the years, we decided that we had run out of space to display them all and could make one last addition, so chose the model of this 12 cylinder car redolent of the Art Deco era.

Further to the previous post, here is another view from the same era with Molesworth Street running towards the central city in the centre. All the houses on the east side of Tinakori Road between Molesworth and Hawkestone Streets disappeared in the motorway construction and about thirds of those between Hawkestone Street and Hill Street. Other houses (for example, some in Hawkestone Street including the Marist Thorndon school, all of Hawkestone Crescent, and a few in Molesworth Street and Hill Street) disappeared too.

One of the most significant figures in the US Class 1 railroad statistics posted a couple of weeks ago was the growth in intermodal traffic - between 2009 and 2011 this increased by an aggregate 2 million carloads; a big reduction in congestion on the highways. In this commercial CSX states that one of their freight trains carries what 280 trucks do.

More of general than transport interest this one as it shows the harbour (east) side of Tinakori Road in the foreground, which was demolished for the foothills motorway of the 1960s, including one of the Katherine Mansfield houses in the centre right.

One of the questions we tried to answer but without success for the book Wellington: a Capital Century was how many houses in Thorndon in total were demolished to make way for for the motorway. However, a 'ball park' figure is 100. For more, see that book.

The Jensen Interceptor (which revived a name used earlier) was a GT class car hand-built at the Jensen Motors factory in West Bromwich near Birmingham, England from 1966 until the company went belly-up in 1976. Jensen used a Chrysler V8 engine for it, initially 6276 cc (383 c.i.), increased in 1971 to 7212 cc (440 c.i.), which was about as big as engines in American cars got. Length was 15'6" (4.7 metres).

There's nothing subtle about the inferences here, although as well as GT
wheels you would need a dwelling and attire to match. Hiring all that
for a fling may get expensive :-)

Although a relatively small engine, the photographer's below track standpoint still manages to make it look impressive. A saddle tank means that the water tank went over the top as well as along the sides of the boiler to maximise heat capture from it, but had the disadvantage of reducing visibility from the cab. These were built by Sharp Stewart between 1897 and 1909. GNR became part of LNER in the 1923 'grouping'. The engine shown, J52 No. 68846 (GNR No. 1247), has been preserved in the National Collection.

As an integral part of LA car culture, the drive-in movie developed there and spread to the rest of the country - and overseas including Australia. As we noted in the book Celluloid Dreams, however, it never happened in NZ.

Usually they featured B movies and often for attendees, watching the movie was secondary to having a 'pash' with your companion inside the car :-)

About us

An international retailer of books, magazines, DVDs and postcards since 1985 and
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All at Sea: stories of New Zealand seafarers

Narratives from interviews conducted over several years with 16 merchant navy sailors - 14 men and 2 women - who recounted their stories from the last full fledged sailing ship, the Pamir being returned to her home country of Finland after WWII to recent stories on today's inter-island ferries and coastal vessels, as well as international cargo and passenger ships which sailed to various parts of the globe. A full range of occupations are covered from Deck Boy, Engineer, Steward to Master as well as harbour pilots, union leaders and shipping company executives.

NZR Memorabilia

A fabulous new book containing many colourful illustrations of old postcards, pamphlets, posters, and a wide range of objects that have been used by the NZR and its personnel from the 1860s to the present time. Together they tell in visual form the importance of NZR to NZ and its people over the past 150 years and provides a useful reference for collectors.

Voyage to Gallipoli

Details of the troopships to the Gallipoli campaign of WW1 and more WW1 naval history.